Various Exchanges
by Dragonsbane1611
Summary: Communication comes in various exchanges - as long as the point gets across. And the point is, being different shouldn't make a difference.
1. Weasleys Under The Weather

For those that have read 'Shooting the Breeze' and wanted the rest of the [back]story. It will be separated into four or five parts, posted as I finish them ... which could be by the end of the day. -DragonsBane1611

**_1 : Weasleys Under The Weather_**  
  
"All I have to do is get past McGonagall with – ah – without – AH – without …" He sneezed loudly, red fringe falling into his eyes.  
"Bless you. Honestly, Ronald, you should be in bed," Hermione hissed.  
Harry had to agree and nodded.  
"Honeydukes is getting in the premiere shipment of Dr. Coconutter's Blue Brains today," Ron explained, wiping his puffy, red eyes.  
Hermione's lip curled, "Who?"  
"Dr. Coconutter, the mad muggle candy maker."  
He sneezed again and shook himself a little afterward.  
"We can bring you back a Blue Brain," Harry offered.  
"Yeah. Dr. Nuttacutter's no reason for you to be out in this weather with that cold," Hermione scolded, handing him a handkerchief from her bag.  
"Coconutter and I'm fi…HAH-CHEE!" Ron nearly doubled over with exertion and Harry grabbed his arm to hold him steady.  
"You sure you're alright?  
"I'm fine."  
Hermione looked at him skeptically, but, surprisingly, said nothing.  
"Uh-oh," Ron muttered, stopping suddenly, his friends taking a few steps without him before retreating to his side.  
"What? What is it?" the girl questioned.  
"I'm going to sneeze again. I can feel it."  
Harry rolled his eyes and said dryly, "Again? You're just going to be one big sneeze before the day's out."  
"Get it out and let's get on with it," Hermione ordered.  
"It won't come out. It's right here," he motioned to his nose, "but it's not coming."  
"Oh, for the love of …" she sighed, hands on her hips.  
"Make me sneeze. Tickle me."  
Harry's eyes widened and he backed away quickly, shaking his head, "Huh-uh, not me, mate."  
"Do what?!"  
"Tickle me," the red-head repeated, rubbing his nose, tears welling in his eyes.  
"I will not," she declared, scandalized.  
"Not with your hands, Hermione. A quill. You're you, aren't you? Surely you have a quill with you," Ron said, his voice thick with congestion as he dropped his hands to his side. "Tickle my nose."  
Grumbling to herself, she retrieved a quill and held it to his face. Harry snorted loudly, covering his mouth with his hand and turning away.  
Hermione took her hand back, "Ludicrous."  
"No, you almost got it, I think," he told her, grabbing her hand and bringing it back to his nose.  
"Do it yourself, Ron, this is silly."  
"Are you mad?! Tickle myself?! Now that's silly. Please, tickle."  
Sighing in exasperation, she went about her work while he scrunched up his as if to squeeze it out physically.  
"Hey, Harry," Neville greeted, appearing nearby with Luna and Ginny. Looking around the chuckling teen, he said, "Hey, Ro …" but stopped and cocked his head to the side. Ginny made a face somewhere between befuddlement and disgust, though, Luna seemed to take the sight in as though it were normal practice for one to have a quill playing about a friend's nose.  
"What in God's name?" the youngest Weasley blurted out, her voice somewhat hoarse.  
"Well, it's obvious isn't it?" Luna began. "Your brother is suffering from a nasal infestation of quill mites and his girlfriend is trying to coax them back into their habitat."  
Ron and Hermione stopped what they were doing to look at her with wide eyes. Harry continued to giggle, and in an unsuccessful attempt to control himself, he snorted a second time. Neville and Ginny, however, raised their eyebrows in vague interest.  
"It's not quill mites," Ron argued, his nose twitching.  
"I am _not_ his girlfriend," Hermione corrected haughtily.  
"What's the hold up?" Professor McGonagall called from across the room, noticing students filing around the group of six.  
"Quick!" he ordered and the girl jumped, tickling quickly. Luna pulled her own quill from her bag and started coaxing mites for herself.  
Ron batted her away, "I don't need – ah – I don't nee – ah…" Hermione put her quill in her bag and moved out of the line of fire quickly.  
"Potter …"  
Harry stopped laughing and nudged Ron.  
"Hurry, mate, she's coming."  
"Ah …"  
"… Granger …"  
"Ah …"  
The other five watched the poorly teen as he continued to try to sneeze and time seemed to slow.  
"… and Mister Weas …"  
"AH …"  
"… ley …"  
"… CHOOOO!" he sneezed so violently, his right foot left the ground.  
Professor McGonagall jumped at the sound, but recovered quickly, closing the distance between them with a stern look.   
"To your dormitory this instant. You're not leaving this castle in your current state."  
"But!"  
"Now, Mr. Weasley."  
"But!"  
"Don't make me get Madame Pomfrey. Or I could owl your mother."  
Ron's mouth snapped shut as his shoulders slumped and he turned toward the stairs without another word.  
"Kindly accompany him, Ginny," the professor said.  
"Yes, Professor," the girl obliged, quietly, clearing her throat and following after her brother.  
"We'll wait for you," Hermione called, but the other shook her head.  
"No, I'm not going in. I just came to see you off. I'll see you when you get back," she managed with a wave.  
"She said she wasn't feeling well, either," Neville told Harry and Hermione. "Some kind of cough."  
"And the potion she's taking makes her head a bit light," Luna added. "I've been waiting for it to come off all morning after one of her fits."  
"For what to come off?" Harry asked, making a face.  
"Her head."  
Neville and Harry gaped at the blonde but Hermione jumped in front of them and loudly suggested, "To Hogsmeade, then?"  
"Sounds lovely," Luna chimed in, pocketing her quill and drifting toward the doors.


	2. Drinks For Two

**_2 : Drinks For Two_**  
  
Harry knew Hermione preferred to stop in Scrivenshaft's before anything and began making his way in that direction when she turned off the path and headed to a shop on his left.  
"Where are you going?" he wanted to know before following her.  
"Honeydukes. Dr. Whattanutter. For Ron, remember?"  
"You two coming?" Harry asked Neville and Luna.  
"No," Luna stated matter-of-factly. "Neville and I are going to back to the Three Broomsticks. Would you like to join us?"  
"Actually," he nodded, starting toward them.  
"Harry!" Hermione called from within the sweetshop.  
"I'd better not. We'll meet up later, though."  
Neville and Luna watched as Hermione exited the shop just to grab Harry's sleeve and pull him inside.  
"Drinks, then, eh?" the boy queried, looking at the girl beside him and fishing in his pocket for his money.  
"Thank you, Neville. I thought you'd never ask."  
She turned toward the Three Broomsticks and he quirked an eyebrow as she walked away.  
"She's definitely something else," he mumbled, going after her.  
"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly just outside the door, tugging on her ear lobe.  
"Are you okay?"  
"Someone's talking about me."  
"I'm sorry?"  
She laughed a little shrugged, "That's what my father used to say: whenever your ear rings, it means someone's talking about you."  
He smiled, nearly surprised that she didn't go into one of her outlandish tales of some tiny creature picking up stray WWN signals from within her brain.  
'_You're not as loony as everyone thinks_,' he thought to himself, opening the door for her. '_Innocence isn't crazy_.'  
Again, she stopped walking, but scratched her nose this time.  
Neville eyed her warily and, concerned, asked, "You're not coming down with whatever Ron's got, are you?"  
"Quill mites? No. Someone's thinking about me," she told him as he held a chair for her and she sat down.  
"Your nose itches when you're on someone's mind?"  
"I bet yours does, too. Someone must be thinking about me a lot," she added, still scratching.  
He, then, realized that he was thinking about her, and that he had been talking about her before.  
'_Surely not _…'  
On a whim, he quickly thought about his shoes and Luna inhaled deeply with a smile, "Ah, they've stopped. Much better."  
Madame Rosmerta approached the table, looking as good-humored as usual.  
"You look like you want something different today," she grinned.  
Neville looked at the girl across the table from him with eyebrows raised.  
"Whatever you're having would be lovely," she told him.  
He thought for a moment before ordering.  
"Er, uh … two hot chocolates, please."  
Rosmerta winked and headed for the bar.  
He watched her walk away for a second before sniffing once and scratching his nose. Thinking something suddenly amiss, he looked at Luna sideways. She smiled vaguely and turned away from him to look around the bar.  
Looking at her properly as she avoided his eyes, he noticed something unusual about her appearance.  
"Where's your necklace?" 


	3. Blue Brains and a Bottlecap

3: Blue Brains and a Bottlecap  
  
"I need Flutterbutter Bars or something," Hermione told the man at Honeydukes.  
He chuckled and leaned his elbow on the counter, pretending to think.  
"She means Dr. Coconutters Blue Brains," Harry intoned.  
"That I can do," he smiled, and pointed. "Just there, by his Silver Sinuses and Teal Toes."   
"Thanks."  
Together, they made their way to the shelf indicated and Harry leaned against it, glancing around the shop. She surveyed the inventory quickly.  
"What's the rush, Hermione?"  
"I'm the child of dentists. Sweets are dangerous ground."  
"You're not running to get back to the castle for anything?"  
"What would I do that for?"  
"Ron is sick in bed while you're perusing coconut flavored body parts in his favorite sweetshop."  
She ignored the implication, asking, "What is appealing about all this?" with a grimace at the names.  
"Ron likes coconut I guess."  
"Is it all the same flavor then?"  
"Not exactly. They're kind of fruity."  
Shrugging, she gathered several boxes of brains into her arms. Harry watched her with an smirk as she grabbed a few more after a moment of thought.  
"What?"  
"I thought we were getting one and getting out?"  
"Maybe I thought I'd try one."  
"Or a hundred?"  
She scowled at him and put a few back.  
"You know Ron and his sweets. He likes a lot."  
Harry nodded, his expression showing that he really wasn't convinced. The girl walked to the counter and he laughed, pushing away from the shelf and following her. A child passed between them sucking what appeared to be his thumb. However, upon removing his hand from his lips, he saw that it was a thumb-shaped lollypop that fit over his actual digit.   
"… and it was just there, so I picked it up," a girl somewhere behind him said.  
He knew that voice.  
"She actually took it off?" a second voice questioned in unbelief.  
"Well …"  
Giggling erupted and Harry turned on his heel, catching a glimpse of long jet-black hair through the bustle of students in the store.  
"Excuse me," he mumbled, pushing past a few people until he could see three laughing seventh years. "Cho."  
She looked at him when he said her name, her smile becoming shy.  
"Hi, Harry."  
His gaze went to from her face to her hand.  
"A butterbeer cap on a chain?" he asked, furrowing his brow.  
This caused the giggling to begin again and he cleared his throat, forcing a smile.  
"That's Luna's, right?"  
Cho stopped laughing long enough to nod and twirl the chain on her finger.  
Choosing his words carefully, he inquired, "Did she give it you?"  
"Yeah, Cho? Did she give it you?" her friend asked, face red with mirth.  
"Well …"  
When they began to squeal with delight yet again, Harry scratched the back of his head, turning his face to the floor.  
"She was just about to tell us how she got it, actually," the third girl told him.  
"Go on then," he prodded, meeting her eyes. "How did you get it?"  
"Come on, Harry," Hermione said, finding him. "We should get this back to Ro – Oh, hi, Cho."  
Cho's laughter died and she and her two friends glared at the girl at Harry's side.  
"Hermione," she returned coldly.  
Scoffing, the Gryffindor repeated as she turned away, "Come on, Harry."  
"No, wait," he stopped her, grabbing her arm. "I want to hear how she got Luna's necklace."  
Frowning, Hermione saw the chain in the other girl's hand and cocked her head to the side. Harry nudged her, flashing her a smile that didn't reach his eyes and she chuckled uncertainly.  
Cho smirked and let the bottle cap dangle from her fingers.  
"With all the time you spend with Loony Lovegood, you know as well as I do that she never takes this off."  
They waited, eyebrows raised and Cho suddenly seemed skeptical. Pocketing the item, she gave Harry a small smile.  
"Good seeing you, Harry. Bye," she said, turning and walking away, her friends in tow.  
"Wait," he called, going after her. She looked at him inquisitively and he gave her an expectant stare. Continuing the silent exchange, Cho gave a pointed glance in Hermione's direction. When Harry turned to his friend he saw her looking at her own bag, to which she had affixed her prefect's badge. Looking back to the trio, he found that they had left the store.  
"What was that about?" Hermione demanded, stepping to him. "Why didn't you take it from her?"  
"I wanted to hear how she got it first," he explained. "Come on," he said, taking her hand and pulling her out onto the street. He craned his neck, looking over the heads of students, trying to see her in the crowd. "There."  
He caught site of the three girls huddled together as they walked. Hermione followed his focus and, consequently began tugging him along until they were mere feet behind them.  
"… hooked my finger in the chain and when she fell, it snapped off," Cho was saying. With a shrug, she added, "Oops."  
They fell into fits of laughter and Cho held the necklace up.  
"Why would anyone want to wear this rubbish? It's so silly," one of the girls asked, snatching it away.  
"How is that she just happened to fall when you had your finger in the chain?" the other girl queried, her laughter slowing, but her eyes still alight with mirth.  
"Well …" Cho sighed, eyes upward.  
Harry stopped where he was and opened his mouth to say,  
"You pushed her?!"  
But he didn't say it, for Hermione had marched forward and spun Cho around roughly, yelling the entire way, saying it for him . The three Ravenclaws backed up unsteadily, seemingly frightened of the enraged Gryffindor.  
However, Cho soon regained her composure and stood her ground.  
"I don't know what you're talking about," she hissed, hands on her hips.  
"That's why Ginny took her to Madame Pomfrey," Hermione continued raving, not really aware of what she was saying.  
"She said she'd tripped," Harry whispered to himself, remembering Ginny and Luna arriving late to the library the evening before. Enraged at the cruelty he was used to only from Slytherins, he stepped forward.  
Cho's friends moved away quickly, the one dropping the necklace.  
"What did she ever do to you?" Hermione wanted to know.  
"What does she care anyway? She's a nutter."  
"She's your housemate," he spat. "Your house is like your family."  
"Luna Lovegood is no family of mine," Cho told him, icily.  
"I would have expected more from any house other than Slytherin."  
"I don't know what kind of spell she has on you, Harry, but she's a loon. It doesn't matter what house she's in. There's nothing but madness going on inside her head. If it's not in the nonsense publication her father prints, it doesn't exist in her world."  
Harry inhaled slowly. The last time he remembered being this angry during a direct verbal conflict, the source of his incitement had swelled up like a balloon and floated high above Surrey.  
"Luna would fight beside you. We're in this together. The DA is nothing if divided."  
Cho laughed shrilly, "Fight beside me? Maybe if I were a blibbering humdinger!"  
He clenched his fists, recollecting the events of the past June in the Department of Mysteries, and he hissed, "You don't know what you're talking about."  
Cho shied away.  
"Harry," Hermione placed a hand on his arm that he didn't realize he'd raised. "You'll be expelled."  
He met her eyes and his hands fell to his side and he sighed heavily.  
After a brief moment, she muttered, "But I won't."  
And with that, Cho stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, the sting of Hermione's palm fresh on her face. Surprisingly, only a few people stopped to pay attention to the altercation.  
"Let's go, Harry," his friend said, turning and starting off.  
Pulling his wand from his pocket, he breathed, "Accio necklace," and the butterbeer cap and chain drifted into his hand. 


	4. Black and Blue and Seeing Red

Sorry it took so long for this. I have no excuse but laziness. Will finish today, I swear. ;o) - Lady Roxyeth Dragonsbane

* * *

**_4: Black and Blue and Seeing Red_**

"Might I ah ...Ah ..." Ron pinched his nose closed and paused. After a moment, he released his nose and shook his head. "... ask you how you got sick?"

"Woke up this way," Ginny answered hoarsely.

He sneezed loudly, his hair falling into his eyes.

"My God, Weasley," a young man spat. "Can't you save that for your common room? There are others would like to use this hallway without contracting your disease."

Narrowing red, puffy eyes, Ron took a step toward the Ravenclaw. Ginny snatched a handful of her brother's robes and pulled him back.

"Ignore it, Ron," she muttered, scowling.

The young man snorted with derisive laughter, a second student beside him sneering.

"Do you have something to say, Michael?" Ginny demanded.

Glancing at his compatriot, Michael Corner scoffed, "No wonder she thinks she can tell everybody what to do ..."

"... Yeah, with her _older_ brothers letting her step up for them," his friend finished for him.

Ron clenched his fists.

"I do no ..."

"Shut it, Ginny," the elder red-head ordered, moving forward again. They were toe-to-toe and the opposing sixth year stood firm even with Ron standing four-inches taller.

"You honestly think you're going to hit me?" Michael grinned amusedly, though his friend wasn't as cocksure.

"No," Ron said simply. Leaning as though to whisper in Corner's ear, he sneezed on his shoulder. Michael jumped back in disgust and Ron chuckled moving back to his sister.

"That was gross, Ron," she chided him.

Ron shrugged, "Let's go."

"You're as much of a nutter as your little girlfriend, you know that?" Corner's voice rang out through the hallway, and Ron spun on his heel, brow furrowed.

"My what?"

"Heard she took a fall yesterday ... pity. Those stairs are tricky," he went on, casting aside his phlegm-tainted robe, angrily.

Ron's frown deepened, but Ginny was off, marching toward the young man growling within herself words that he couldn't understand. Michael had begun to laugh again and, as Ginny approached, grabbed her by her shoulders and moved her aside.

"This isn't between you and I, love," he told her, smirking condescendingly. Shocked from being moved about, Ginny gaped at him. "What's'a matter, _Ronald_? We all know she's head over heels for you!"

"Luna?" Ron mumbled.

"Of course, _Loony_ Lovegood. Who else? Hermione?" At this, he laughed loudly and Ron felt his blood begin to boil. "I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? Problem is, Weasley: she's actually got a brain in her head. Shame, she wastes it on your lot."

Before anyone else could react, Ron had charged forward, tackling Corner, fists flying. The second Ravenclaw stood idly by, staring with wide eyes.

"Are you going to help him?" Ginny wanted to know.

To her amazement, the boy was foolish enough to try to pull the Gryffindor off his friend. Ron reared back, giving Michael a brief reprieve while he took a hard swing at the other, who promptly fell to the floor.

"Get off me," Michael said thickly, trying to scramble away with blood streaming from his nose and lip.

"Shut ..." Ron began, punching him one last time, "... up." Corner's head dropped back, eyes glassy for a moment with disorientation. Ron stood and sneezed again. "Bloody hell, I hate sneezing."

"You should go to the hospital wing," Ginny said, looking at the two boys as they struggled to stand upon shaky legs.

Glaring at her through swelling eyelids, Michael spat blood at her feet.

"Not you," she hissed, stamping heavily on his left toes. When he picked up his foot reflexively, she kicked his right shin and he toppled back to the floor. "Come on, Ron."


	5. Point Taken

And here it is ... (whew) Finally, eh?

* * *

**_5: Point Taken_**

"You look like you feel better," Hermione noted, she and Harry sitting on either side of him at the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, loads," Ron smiled, voice clear of congestion and blue eyes bright.

"How was Hogsmeade?" Ginny inquired.

Hermione shrugged, "Oh you know, not that great."

"Whatever," Harry scoffed, "There was a fight in the street."

"It wasn't a fight, Harry."

"Close enough." Noticing the questioning eyes of the Weasley's, he explained, "Cho was slapped down on the main road."

"By who?" both red-heads wanted to know.

Harry raised his eyebrows, "Why don't you tell them, Hermione?"

"Hermione?" Ron gasped, the corners of his mouth twitching and his eyes twinkling.

"That's brilliant," Ginny giggled.

Neville arrived at the table with Luna.

"Do you mind if she joins us?" he asked, already motioning her to the space beside Ginny.

"Please," Ginny agreed.

"Definitely," Ron put in.

"Of course," Harry smiled.

"That would be lovely," Hermione added.

Once she'd sat down, he sat next to her on the bench and Harry pulled something out of his pocket.

"Hey, Luna, I thought you might have dropped this in Hogsmeade," he told her, holding out the butterbeer cap on the chain with a furtive glance at Hermione who pursed her lips, eyes flashing. Luna touched the bare place on her neck as she took the necklace.

"Must have, thank you," she breathed.

"Whoa," Neville said, suddenly, "What happened to him?" They rest turned to look and see a very angry Cho Chang scowling at them and escorting a heavily bruised and bandaged Michael Corner to the Ravenclaw table.

"He looks like he ran into a wall," Hermione commented.

"Or the high snorkack of the covey thought he was a challenger," Luna threw in.

Ginny smirked and Ron pretended to think for a moment.

"Hmm," was all he said, shrugging and turning around again.

"Was he in Hogsmeade today?" Neville asked.

"No," Luna told them, filling her plate. "He was to stay at the castle today and help Professor Flitwick decorate the common room as Christmas is in a few weeks."

Harry and Hermione paused to think this over for a moment just as the food appeared on the tables. They turned to Ron, blinking, Neville even looking up.

"It's about time. Let's eat," he exclaimed, elbowing Harry in the ribs when he opened his mouth to speak. The five Gryffindors exchanged meaningful glances before turning their eyes to Luna who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

She, however, understood everything.

And scratched a persistent itch on her nose.


End file.
